Chapter Text
The last time Ozai had any visitors, his son had just taken his crown and demanded to know where his mother was. After the first decade passed and no visitors since, he had lost track of how long he had been in that prison cell. In all that time he knew the schedule the guards ran on. He knew what time meals were and what time he was allowed a few minutes of outside time.
So when the door to the room that held his cell was opened off schedule, Ozai was confused. His confusion was heightened even more when rather than a guard, a young girl entered. Why was a girl no older than 15 visiting him? The room was dimly lit but even so he could tell this girl was someone important. Her dress, though simple, was elegant. Though she was quite small compared to the guard, she held herself high and proud and yet not in a conceited way. Her hair was long and wavy and he could just catch a glimpse of a hair piece holding her hair back in a typical Fire Nation style. “We’ll be right outside this door if you need anything, princess,” the guard said to her. She smiled sweetly at him.
So that’s what it was. This was the princess. In the flicker of the candlelights, he could see light bouncing off of the ornate piece in her hair. She wasn’t just the princess. She was the crown princess. Heir to the throne. Zuko’s daughter...his granddaughter.
“Hello.” She smiled at him but he could only look at her confused. “My name is Izumi.” There was a bit of a pause. Ozai continued to stare at her. When he didn’t say anything, she began to nervously fiddle with the ends of her long hair. “So…”
Before she could even say anything else, he abruptly interrupted her. “Why are you here?”
Izumi looked away from him and fiddled with her hair more. “Well I thought it was finally time to meet you. Grandmother said…”
“Grandmother?” That stopped Ozai in his tracks and nearly floored him. “You mean...Ursa...Ursa is alive…?” Rationality would dictate that she could’ve meant her grandmother on her mother’s side but something long buried within Ozai had hoped that it just might be…
Izumi only nodded, not realizing that her grandparents hadn’t seen each other since many years before her birth. Ozai looked away from her and snickered. “So my idiot son actually found her.”
Ozai didn’t even have time to register as the candles in the room heightened at the young girl’s anger. “Do not call my father an idiot! He is a great man!”
Ozai just stared at his granddaughter in wonder as the candles flickered almost as angrily as she did. So she was a firebender. And it seemed she was just as fiery as the element she bent. For a moment, Ozai flashbacked to the bunker under the capitol. It was the day of black sun and that same glare that she wore on her face now was worn by a different face then...a scarred one.
He was so caught up in the past that he didn’t even register when the guards opened the door frantically. “Is everything alright, princess?”
The candles had begun to calm and Izumi composed herself. She smiled that smile at them again and even though it wasn’t directed at him, Ozai couldn’t help but feel a little warmed by it. “Everything is alright. I might’ve just lost my temper for a bit.”
When the guards walked back outside, Izumi faced her grandfather again. “I’m sorry I lost my temper for a bit. That was reckless of me.”
Ozai looked at her confused as ever. “Why are you apologizing? I insult your father and you apologize? You must have even less of a backbone than he does.”
His intention was to hurt her, but rather than get upset again, she responded calmly. “Grandmother has been teaching me about forgiveness. She said I inherited my temper from both my mother and father but that shouldn’t hold me back from forgiving those who deserve it.”
He looked at her skeptically. “Oh really? You think I’m deserving of forgiveness? Me? Former Phoenix King Ozai? Do you even know half of the things I’ve done, girl?”
She nodded. There was sadness in her face. As much as Ozai had wanted to hurt her, he didn’t realize how much her sadness would affect him. “Of course I know. No one ever hid it from me or my siblings. It’s kind of hard to when the evidence is on our father’s face. But you’re still family and so still worthy of forgiveness.”
Ozai actually laughed at that. “Ha! Family? Look at us, girl. You and I are two completely different people. We’re not family. And even so, I haven’t been family with that grandmother or father of yours in years. You’re wasting your time trying to redeem the irredeemable.”
Izumi sighed. “You’re right. I could’ve just stayed at home and lived my palace life without ever needing to meet you. But that would be wrong because I’d still know you were here. Whether you like it or not, we’re family. And my mother says family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
Ozai scoffed. He only ever knew of one of his son’s female interests and he was finding it very hard to believe that the depressing girl who hung around his daughter and played with knives would say something so philosophical. “I think I liked your mother better when she was the ‘speak when spoken’ to type. She should just stay in that gloomy world of hers and keep to her knives.”
This time it was Izumi’s turn to be confused. Gloomy? Knives? That didn’t sound like her mother at all. In fact it sounded like… “Oh I get it. No you must be confused. My mother isn’t aunt Mai. Family and community is important in the Tribes. My mother is a waterbender.”
It was Ozai’s turn to be angry. He looked at her with pure rage. “WHAT?! ARE YOU SAYING THAT FAILURE OF A SON OF MINE HAS TAINTED THE ROYAL BLOODLINE WITH A WATERBENDER?!”
Rather than yelling back, Izumi backed away towards the wall in shock and fear. Now that she was on the wall and much closer to the candlelights, Ozai could see it. Her skin was half a shade darker than the typical pale skin of Fire Nation society but still lighter than what he’d seen of Water Tribe people. Her hair was wavy and a dark brown color rather than the straight, stark black of typical Fire Nation girls. But even with those traits, he could see in the lighting her eyes were still a familiar golden hue. The same eyes as his son. The same eyes as his wife.
Izumi this time was not angry. Frankly, she had expected this reaction from him. Instead of yelling back, she merely dusted herself off and walked towards him in a calm manner. “Well I suppose if you’re just going to sit there and insult my parents, I think our visit today is over.”
Ozai turned away from her in a huff. Before she left though, she moved closer to his cell and pulled something out of her dress pocket. “Before I go, I wanted to give this to you...as a gift. Or a peace offering. However you wanna view it.”
He didn’t give her his full attention but he saw in his peripheral that she placed a ball shaped item on the ground in front of his cell. “Moon peaches are in season in the Earth Kingdom. Uncle Aang knows they’re my favorite and brought some over during his last visit. I didn’t know what you liked but I thought this would at least be the start of getting to know you.”
She placed the fruit down and got back up to walk towards the door. “It was nice meeting you, grandfather.” And with that she walked out of the door and he was once again alone.
Ozai reached out and grabbed the fruit she left him. He smelled it and took a bite. It tasted like heaven compared to some of the food he’d been given during his years in prison. He wouldn’t admit it but perhaps his granddaughter was someone worth getting to know. Somehow the thought of her visiting again didn’t sound so bad. And (though he would deny every thinking this) being called grandfather felt quite nice too.